Tool-head-attaching key or wedge.



No. 857,863. PATENTED JU EEE, 1907.

' c. BOOTH.

TOOL HEAD ATTAGHING KEY 0E WEDGE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5, 1906.

@uuawtoc 2-H Boot/z mid W1 I (Rho-ma o CHARLES H. BOOTH, OF BOISE,IDAHO.

TOOL-HEAD-ATTACHING KEY OR WEDGE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 25, 1907.

Application filed September 5,1906. Serial No. 333,361-

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLEs H. BOOTH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Boise City, in the county of Ada and State of Idaho, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Tool-Head-Attaching Keysor Wedges, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a very simple form of key orwedge of that type customarily employed to prevent heads of tools, suchas axes, hammers, picks, or the like, from being accidentally displacedfrom the handle.

The aim of the invention is to provide a more effective and substantialkey attaching means than those heretofore devised. h

For a full understanding of the invention, and the merits thereof andalso to acquire a knowledge of the details of construction of the meansfor effecting the result, reference is to be had to the followingdescription and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a sectional view of a hammer, showing the head thereofattached to the handle by a key or Wedge comprising the invention; and,Fig. 2 is a detail view of the key or wedge.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

Specifically describing the invention, it is contemplated that the head1, which is mounted on the handle 2 of the tool should be formed withthe usual socket 3 in which the end of the handle 2 is received. Thesocket 3 of the head 1, however, is provided with a longitudinal seat orrecess 4 at a side thereof, the inner extremity of this recess or head 4terminating in a deflecting portion 5. The key or wedge constituting theinvention is of very simple form comprising a body 6 which may be ofwedge form in cross section and with which is formed anintegral'downwardly projecting tongue 7, the lower extremity of which isbeveled from the outer side thereof, preferably. Offstanding from theupperportion of the key or body 6 is an extension 8 which constitutes atool head engaging member, with reference to its ractical use orapplication in the actual em odiment of the invention.

In using the invention, after the head 1 has been placed in osition uponthe handle 2, the tongue 7 of t e key or wedge 6, which tongue may bestyled a clenching tongue, is-

introduced into the seat 4 of the socket 3 of the head 1. The key or Iwedge 6 is then moved longitudinally of the handle 2, and it ispreferably driven in place so that as the body of the said key or wedgeenters the outer end of the handle 2, the outer or lower end of thetongue 7 will have been deflected laterally by the deflecting portion 5of the seat 4 and will enter the handle 2 and be automatically clenched,so to speak, to very firmly and effectively hold the key or wedge fromdisplacement, which is a' very advantageous feature of the presentinvention when compared with the keys or Wedges most common y employedat this time. the curved or clenched portion of the tongue 7 serve tovery effectively attach the key or Wedge 6 to the handle 2, but thetongue 7 also constitutes a means for holding the tool head engagingmember 8 of the key or wedge'inposi tive engagement with the head 1 ofthe tool, thereby very effectively obviating likelihood of displacementof the head 1 from the handle 2 under actual working conditions.

As an article of manufacture, the key or wedge may be constructed from asingle metal blank and its cost would be nominal.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

The combination of a handle, a tool head having a handle receivingopening therein, said opening being formed with a longitudinal seatextending along one side thereof and terminating in a deflectingshoulder, a key embodying a wedge member designed to be driven into theextremity of the handle to expand the same, a tool engaging lugprojecting laterally from the wedge, and an integral tongue at one endof the wedge, said tongue being designed to enter the before mentionedlongitudinal seat and impinge against the deflecting shoulder at thetermination thereof in such a manner that its end portion is bentlaterally and caused to embed itself in the tool handle.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES H. BOOTH. [L. s] Witnesses:

TnoMAs BooTH, E. STANLEY.

Not only does

